Blurry Perception
by evil vixen sue
Summary: After a mission gone wrong, Hinata found herself alone, injured and without her memories. When she found someone who knows who she is, she latches onto him. Too bad she doesn't remember he's a wanted missing-nin by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. Post Fourth War AU
1. The Lost Souls

**Blurry Perception**

**_After a mission gone wrong, Hinata found herself alone, injured and without her memories. When she found someone who knows who she is, she latches onto him. Too bad she doesn't remember he's a wanted missing-nin by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. _**

**::**

**Chapter 1: Lost Souls**

**::**

"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."  
~ Mark Twain

**::**

_Red simmering into black. Rage twisted around despair. _

_It tore apart her soul,… shaving away her sanity. Slowly, slowly… until there was only a thin shred left. _

_After she lost him, there was a persistent ache that accompanies each beat of her heart. It tugged at her relentlessly before shoving her down the black abyss of sorrow. Then red hot rage slashed her shredded heart until she's a quivering mess before she was plunged back into the dark pit of fear. This vicious cycle of hollowed depression and heightened fury was how she's been living her life since the war ended._

_During her more lucid moments she wondered whether bipolar disorder was something that can be triggered by sheer circumstances. Then the pain grabbed her in its spiky tentacles again and she stopped thinking._

_And the torture continued._

**::**

The sunlight that filters through the forest's canopy prickles uncomfortably against her eyelids, blanketing her body in a cocoon of stifling heat. She moves her head to avoid it but a shot of pain snakes through her brain and she grits her teeth, tears pooling in the edges of her closed eyes. Her head feels like it has been smashed with a really big… something. She forces her body to turn, curling on one side before forcing her upper body to peel itself from the dusty ground, propels by one shaky hand.

Her breathing is loud and erratic, while her heart is pounding hard in her chest, a painful beat that makes her shudder in agony. Her hand comes up sticky and dripping with blood and she groaned, her dark hair plasters against clammy skin. When she thinks it over later, the lack of fear and panic would have been a great indicator but at the moment she quickly runs one hand, her fingers trembling and shaking, over her torso.

She winces when her fingers find a still oozing wound, just under her rib cage. She presses her hand against the flow of blood and half hidden by her blood-stained shirt, her fingers glow a muted shade of green.

Random thoughts blaze through her muddled brain, piercing through the hazy clouds drifting through her mind.

Why am I bleeding?

What had happened?

Who… am I? Why…?

Then everything turns black.

**::**

A lone silhouette flickers for a second before it melts back into the wavering shadow of a tree. The moon peeps from behind the cover of heavy clouds and for one moment the stark lines of a building is illuminated, a contrast to the lush background behind it.

A pair of midnight eyes continues to scrutinize the movements of various guards scatter throughout the area. He is aware from his recon sessions that precisely after midnight, there will be a three minute window to slip in undetected. A frown flashes across the pale features, his hand playing with the scroll as he counts down the seconds in his head. Adrenaline is already surging through his bloodstream, in preparation of the upcoming events.

The frown deepens when he notices that the guards are noticeably more alert tonight. During his last visit, the guards were more interested in the upcoming warm glasses of sake than the actual guarding but these guys today are patrolling their designated areas with grim determination.

What had changed between 3 nights ago and today?

Other than that, he can't see anything else that could compromise his mission today so he pushes the thought away and focuses on the matter at hand. 5 minutes before the window, he tugs a scroll open, slides his thumb across the sharp edge before swiping his blood across the waiting parchment. His hand moves quickly through the seals and after the smoke clears, an ordinary looking black cat rests on its haunches, waiting silently for its orders.

The man ignores the animal and goes through another series of seals. "Kage bunshin."

He quickly uses Henge on his clone, before turning his attention back to the guards below. He then nods at the waiting cats. "Go. You know what to do."

They jump down and start to wander, slowly making their way into the building. The alert guards give the meandering cats a varying degree of suspicious glares but turn their attention elsewhere after one of the cats start rubbing itself around one of the guard's ankle.

The frown disappears and his lips quirks upwards when they predictably break rank for the change of guards. Up in his hiding place, the man is unmoving but there is a hint of a quick grin when the two cats disappear into the building. A mere seven minutes later, the grin widened when he is holding the rare scroll in his hand. He tucks it securely away and jumps into the waiting darkness.

**::**

She wakes up to a pounding head, aching limbs and the smell of blood everywhere. She quickly struggles to her feet, instantly wary as she pushes her back against one tree. All of a sudden, her vision clears and widens into perfect clarity. The girl gasps, what is that? She blinks, on the verge of hyperventilating and her vision shifts back to normal.

The urge to move is overwhelming so she listens to the voice screaming in her throbbing head, instinctively forcing her battered body to head south.

Mere seconds later, she stiffens, pale eyes darting around suspiciously. She couldn't hear anything but somehow she knows deep in her guts that someone is approaching. Fast. Common sense tells her it could be help that is arriving but a tiny shrill voice is screaming for her to move. Right this minute.

Feeling torn, she decides to compromise. Trying her hardest to make as little noise as possible (somehow she knows that is important), she squeezes herself under one of the bushes. In her preoccupation and fear, she did not even feel the pain as sharp thorns slice open her exposed skin.

She hunches her small body into a ball, trying to take up as small space as she possibly can when the hair at the back of her neck prickles uncomfortably. Straining her ears, she still could not hear anything but suddenly without even a tiniest rustle, a figure materialized maybe thirty feet away.

She freezes when the figure crouches by one of the trees, small movements of its head indicating that he's scouring the area. For her? She didn't have the answer to that question.

The girl didn't know how she knows it but his body language screams hostile. To cement the fact, she could see a glint of sharp metal appearing in one of his hand.

Rescuers do not move around the terrain without sound, with multiple weapons strapped on their person. She grits her teeth in desperation.

What did she do? Why are they after her?

She stays in position long after he disappears, maybe the next couple of hours until she is absolutely sure that the one after her is gone. Then she unlocks her screaming muscles and move cautiously into the darkening forest.

**::**

Some may argue that his methods are crude and unpolished (especially the fact that he now favours sending distraction in the form of clones and such) but after being hounded from the age of six by screaming girls, known throughout the Five Great Shinobi Nations as a student of infamous teachers (both of them), the figure head of still talked about Fourth Great War (one of them anyway), he has no desire to advertise his presence in his new career of choice. Nowadays, he had never personally enter his target's place or reveal himself if he could help it.

Sometimes when he is alone, when sleep is eluding him, the idea of him, the Avenger, the Enemy of Konoha who turns out to be the one who pulls the village from the brink of ruination, the man who harness the Second's own chakra to help seal the newly formed Ten Tails away, the same person who had held that kind of power in his hand would choose without reluctance to cut off all ties, turn invisible and for lack of better word is slumming it, the idea is a little preposterous.

However, after years of drifting, he has found something he has never had before. A sense of humour, so to speak, enough for him to be amuse at the sudden turn of his life. He's a thief and a damn good one at that too. Years of shinobi training made it easy to slip in and out of places to relieve certain people of certain items.

He had started off as assassin for hire, doing whatever job comes his way before the call of larceny beckons like a seductive wink of a beautiful woman. In time, he comes to realize he had enough of spilling blood and prefers to steal if he had a choice.

The Uchiha crouches on a branch, half hidden behind the sparse green foliage as his sharp senses scours the area for foreign chakras. There is a sharp irritating feeling that refuses to leave and experience tells him that the job was not as successful as he thought it is.

He stands slowly, quickly dismissing the faint diminishing chakra to his right as insignificant before he detects incoming movement. Quickly calculating the possibility on his various options, he sighs.

Those Iwa-nin guards won't let him stay in the shadows much longer.

There goes his celebratory night of lazing it off. Damn.

**::**

**End of Chapter 1**

**::**

_**Preview for Chapter 2:**_

_"They sent _you_ of all people for me?" His disgust and repulsion feels like a toss of cold water right in her face but she straightens from her position, instantly alert when the meaning of his words sinks in. The desire to flee is overshadows by the glimpse of answers he holds in his grasp._

**::**


	2. Take Me With You

**Blurry Perception**

**::**

_**After a mission gone wrong, Hinata found herself alone, injured and without her memories. When she found someone who knows who she is, she latches onto him. Too bad she doesn't remember he's a wanted missing-nin by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. **_

**::**

**Chapter 2: Take Me With You**

**::**

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."  
~ Sun Tzu, _The Art of War_

**::**

_They tried to kill him. _

_Multiple attempts to end his life, all in the span of mere hours. And the last one was a hair-breath away from being successful. _

_The jeers of the villagers was not something he cares about, they could send in the best civilian to finish him off and he'd yawn in their faces at the futility of that. However, none of the attempts came from civilians. Which made sense because he was not even back in Konoha at the time. _

_He was in one of the medic tents that dotted the peripheral of the battleground, seconds away from total exhaustion from chakra depletion. Sealing the Juubi was an enormous task that drains every last drop of his chakra and he did not have the blond's ridiculous chakra reserve. They had not a better opportunity. _

_Morale were raging high from the disappearance of the Juubi and so was the resentment for the name Uchiha. And since only one was within reach for them to take out their bitterness on, they didn't wait to think it through. Or ponder the fact that he did just saved their collective assess from total destruction a couple of hours ago._

_The earlier ones were a little more than drunken passes. The last one was when the medic had stepped out and the guard was nowhere to be seen. The Uchiha struggled to his feet, almost hunched to the waist as one hand gripped the table beside him with shaking fingers when he saw the hardened face. The stranger was closing in, moving with easy stride that could shift into battle stance in a heartbeat. _

_One glance at his wrist showed a pair of chakra suppression seals and the pain that flares at the back of his eyes when he tried to activate his Sharingan told him they had locked his bloodline limit while he was out earlier._

_Even after he had almost given up his life to contain the Juubi, he was still technically a wanted missing-nin and they didn't want him to forget that._

_Without the ability to use chakra and his Sharingan, he had to depend on taijutsu to get pass this murderous opponent. But try telling that to his exhausted limbs, they were shaking so hard he can't even stand straight. _

"_Hey!" he tried calling out but it came out as a raspy cough. _

_His would-be-killer let out an amused snort at his disability. The visible look of distaste aimed at him brought with it a surge of adrenaline and his legs straightened. His fingers closed over one of the medical tools as the man moved in. _

_He did not know how he had done it, his will to live must be stronger than he had realized because then he was standing over the man. The blood dripping from their wounds smeared the floor of the medic tent with red abstract trails; the evidence of a scuffle was plain to see. He gasped in air greedily, pushing the need to keel over at bay. To distract himself, he studied the pool of growing blood on the floor. His brain furiously strategized his options for the future and it didn't take long to come to the conclusion on how limited his were. _

_He knew he had to leave before Naruto appeared and talked him into putting it all behind him, all that forgive and forget crap, so that they could all have the happy ending the blond had envisioned. He pulled himself together, tossing the blood-stained tool aside to wipe his bleeding hand on one of the sheets. He then quickly bundled himself in a cloak he found, fill its pockets with whatever weapon and medicine he could get his hands on and left._

_It was easier than he had anticipated to disappear. The surrounding area was a mass of chaotic movement of post-war. The dying and the wounded were literally everywhere._

_The Juubi had been exceptionally vicious when it realized it was about to be resealed and that was about the time its Jinchuuriki lost control and it went on a murderous rampage. _

_He didn't know why he was alone (solitary confinement? And without adequate guards? Did he somehow forget how trusting the people of Konoha were?) and he didn't care. Moving quietly and as swiftly as his body could handle, he entered the frenzied crowd and disappeared. _

_No one had ever seen him again._

**::**

She leans against the trunk from her perch on a branch, one hand curves around the thick wood for extra precaution. Her body is trembling from the strain of living on adrenaline laced pain for the last few days. She found out that she is able to scale up a tree without much trouble, although she finds that it drains her afterwards. For the last few days, she had spent the majority of her time on the tall trees and she uses her height to scout for any unseen enemies.

She had been in one hell of a fight (based on the state of her body) so it is fair to assume whoever fought her before probably would still be in the vicinity. They would want to finish off what they started. Oh yes, they would want to see her death and the proof of it with her cold dead body. With those thoughts constantly circulating around her head, suspicion and paranoia starts to be a close friend.

The drying blood coating the back of her head suddenly starts to throb. She runs her hand through her matted hair, tenderly pressing over the clotted mound and without her realizing it, her hand glows. The painful grimace eases a little from her pinched face and a sigh escapes her chapped lips.

The last few days had been a haze of pain, confusion and instinct driven struggle. She didn't know what had happened, she didn't know what she is going to do… she didn't know who she is.

Whoever she is, she clearly didn't believe in carrying any sort of identification on herself. What she could find is just what she is wearing on her back, a ripped jacket over blood stained top with stained pants. She would've laugh at her current situation if it isn't for the pain racking her body.

But one thing she could do is to keep on moving until she finds someone who knows her and didn't greet her with the sharp point of a weapon. She looks up into the overcast sky as slowly, fat drops of water starts to fall.

A loud crash pushes her out of her thoughts and she moves towards the sound, a little hesitant. She settles on the side of a tree and peers down to find a man surrounded by a number of well-armed strangers. Before a thought could even start to form, the lone man weaves through the crowd surrounding him and one by one, they drops to the muddy earth.

She pushed aside her wet hair, wincing when the water runs over her still painful wounds. Forcing her attention back to the ground below, she gasps when she realizes that the fight is already over. The man left standing is slowly cleaning his bloody katana, twisting the blade to catch the falling raindrops before he suddenly turns towards her, staring straight in her direction.

Her first instinct is to jump down and faces him before dragging him off... somewhere. Suddenly, she had a mental image of hiding him behind a wall of leaves (or was it hiding _from _him?). However, the idea of her facing someone like him, someone who just tears through a small army without breaking sweat terrifies her. Something about him, the way he is standing seems somewhat familiar. There is something in his black eyes that sparks a hint of recognition within her, something that whispers she knows him.

She didn't know if she is someone who would face her problem head on or run away from it but she didn't think if this is the time to find out. She keeps her muscles stiff, even forgo breathing when he takes a couple of steps her way. No, no… maybe there is someone else he has his eyes on and she fervently wishes she could just melts into the thick trunk and disappears. The rain water starts to soak through her ruined clothes and she bits her lips when the water lands on her open wounds.

She nearly jumps when he suddenly appears on a tree maybe ten feet away from where she is huddling, still wrestling with the decision when the choice is snatch out of her hand by his one question.

"They sent _you_ of all people for me?" His disgust and repulsion feels like a toss of cold water right in her face but she straightens from her position, instantly alert when the meaning of his words sinks in. The desire to flee is overshadows by the glimpse of answers he holds in his grasp.

"You know who I am?" She tries to stand, all the while staring at him from the curtain of rain in between them.

"Stop with the stupid question, Hyuuga," he snaps and his grip on his katana tightens when she stumbles a couple of step towards him.

"Is that my name? Hyuuga? So you do know me!" She silently repeats the name the man calls her in her head to see if it rings anything. Hyuuga… Hyuuga… She made a move to decrease the space between them and he instantly stiffens in reaction. She mulls on the unexpected response, why is he avoiding her? Did she do something to him in the past, this man who finishes off a crowd faster than she could blink? "Look, I need your… uh… help. Please, I'm not going to hurt you so stop… running away!"

Sasuke frowns at her reasoning. What the hell is she talking about? He turns to leave and again the Hyuuga calls out, panic lacing her every syllables.

"Wait! You can't just leave me here, alone!"

He ignores her frantic call and jumps down. The second his feet touches the muddy ground, he notices the prickles of enemy chakra. The one he had been scouting for earlier is finally making his move. He curses the demented Hyuuga for her unwanted disruption but the Iwa-nin's senbon shaped rock bullets already whizzes past. He had already lost precious seconds while getting distracted by the girl.

"Hey! I'm still talking to him."

Both of their eyes dart up, startles out of their concentration by her angry tone to find the Hyuuga scowling with a hand on one hip while the other grips the rough bark with fingers that glows faintly with chakra. That's it, she really _has_ lost her mind. Who would purposely announce your presence to the enemy you has no chance of winning? He had noticed how she is standing, the way she's hunching and favouring her left side. There is no way she could fight the nin and comes out with her life intact. His brow inches higher when the crazy girl continues berating his attacker.

"Yeah, you! I'm talking to you! You can't just… jumps in the middle of our talk and start hacking him to pieces. If he's dead, who's going to help me?"

She knows she's babbling and deep down knows that interrupting both of them is probably not the wisest idea but the desperation she feels when the dark haired man turns his back on her loosens every barrier she had and the words keeps tumbling out. "You can do whatever you want _after_ I'm done with him. Now, I…"

The girl clamps her lips in irritation when the two ignores her and resume the fight.

"You think _he _is going to hack me to pieces?" The disgust colours the tone of his voice, even as he is flipping around the sharp projectiles. He lands on the edge of a tree, chakra fused feet keeping him in place and he scowls at the Hyuuga from his horizontal position. Oh yeah, she definitely had land one too many hits to the head or he's in one weird-ass genjutsu. A Hyuuga who did not have a stick shove up their asses is a pretty good indicator of a genjutsu-fueled incident but without his Sharingan he can't be sure.

"Did you see what he can do?" The girl retorts back. "Of course he's going to…"

"Shut the hell up, both of you!" The Iwa-nin flings his weapons into both of their direction.

Sasuke swipes the kunai coming towards him from its trajectory with a flick of his katana. He could hear the whiz as the other weapon slices the air to its other destination, the rustling of her clothes as she dives out of its path, her surprise gasp when it breaks her skin and the muffle scream when her body hit the earth. He heard all of that even as the Iwa-nin guard launches himself, sword already out and ready.

The Uchiha counters the strike with his own weapon, the katana singing as it slides against the guard's steel. With a deftness that comes from experience, he twists his wrist in such a way that the guard has no choice but to drop the sword to relieve the pressure on his hand.

With another rapid flick of his hand, the guard drops onto his knees. A few seconds later, the lifeless body topples down, the rain quickly turning the ground around him a dirty russet of mixed blood and mud.

Sasuke spares his fallen adversary a cursory glance as he makes his way to the Hyuuga. She is lying face down, limbs in an awkward angle. He pushes her onto her back, his dark eyes studying the unconscious girl. He could see where the Iwa-nin's weapon had grazed her, the wound an angry red line running under her slashed sleeve.

He knows without a doubt that the weapon had been dipped in some sort of poison from how her wound is reacting. He also notices the dried blood that coats the back of her neck as well as around her torso. Sasuke looks up into the dense canopy to see that the night sky is starting to come alive with faraway stars dotting the horizon. With her previous injury and now the poison, he knows that there is no way this Hyuuga would open her eyes to another day.

The Uchiha entertains the thought of quickly ending her suffering, she is after all a former comrade from his former village but as fleeting as the idea passes his mind, he dismisses it. He has no desire for any sort of tie to anyone from Konoha except for the time when he'll crush them under his heels. Sasuke shakes his head at the way his thoughts run. He had been living with the goal for too long, it was hard sometimes to remember he couldn't care less what happens to Konoha now.

He stands but something grips his hand to pull him back to his haunches. Cold fingers wrapped around his blood-stained wrist. His frown deepens when his effort to free his hand remains futile. "Let go of me, Hyuuga. I can't help you."

"My… name… My name… please."

The desperation on her face suddenly made him recall of a flash of his genin years, of another girl who was always shadowing his idiot team mate. With a shock he realizes this dying girl is one and the same.

"Hyuuga," he ransacks his brain for her first name, he could still remembers the fondness that colours Naruto's voice when it passed his lips. It was the least he could do to a dying girl. "Hinata."

"Hinata." Some of the tension melts away but her grip remains. "I… I… can't die yet… Please."

Sasuke watches how her eyes flutter. He waits for the moment her breath hitches and stops but it never come. He shrugs and turns to leave but the clasp on his hand didn't loosen. Slowly he pries her fingers off, one by one and watches silently as it falls onto the muddy ground. He spends the next few seconds studying her but her chest continues to move stubbornly. It hitches and skips a few beats but it continue to move.

There is no reason to as why he suddenly grabs the girl under her arms before tossing her over his shoulder. Her limp hands swing slowly with each of his step, her hair whispering against his back. He walks slowly, taking his time as if the half-dead girl and the rain is not enough reason for haste.

Sasuke rolls his shoulder, the one holding the unconscious Hyuuga and she groans at the jolt. The Uchiha finds her useless and obstinate cling to life exasperating but he still yet to find the reason to what he's doing with her. He blinks the rain from his eyes and when his vision clears, he spots a particular plant.

The leaves are struggling under the force of the downpour, the pliant stem is in danger of being snaps off if the rain continues on. Sasuke notices the distinctive shape of its leaves and the bluish hue of its unfurl buds. Without thinking about it, he pulls the plant from the ground, gives it a couple of shake to remove clingy drops of water and soil before he continues on.

Sasuke pushes the low hanging vines apart and ducks into an unseen cave. He dumps the girl onto the hard ground and her muted groan tells him she's still breathing. The inside of the cave is pitch black as the curtain of tangled weeds and creepers cut off any lights. So he puts together a pile of dry leaves and branches and with a spark of concentrated chakra, a small fire starts crackling at the mouth of the cave.

The Uchiha spends the next few minutes warming his chilly hands. He sits by the fire as he sifts through his clone's memory, trying to find the reason he's dodging enraged guards when it is supposed to be an easy retrieval job. Contrary to popular belief, he did _not _spend valuable time brooding. He had way too much things to take care off anyway. A scowl is etches deep into his face when he still couldn't find the flaw in his clone's execution. So what does that mean?

The wet shirt is clinging to his cold skin so Sasuke slips out of his soaked outer shirt and arranges it so that it it'll dries by the fire's heat. He looks at the crumpled plant he had tossed aside earlier and he suddenly recalls why he had taken that in the first place. He makes his way to her to see that she is still unconscious, still in the same position she was in after he tosses her down.

He quickly straightens her limbs and in afterthought pushes her hair off her face (after the trouble he had gone to save her, he could not let her suffocate on her own hair) and tears the sleeve off her bleeding cold arm. Sasuke runs one finger beside the angry red gash, brooding on his options.

With a sigh, he made up his mind and pulls out his kunai to prod the wound, reopening it to drain out the poison. He studies the way the red blood stains her pale skin as it slides languidly down with the pull of gravity before he turns to the plant. After smashing it into a mushy pulp, he smears it over her cut before tying her torn sleeve over it, bandaging the arm with efficient moves.

He wipes his grimy hand on the flapping edge of her sleeve before he sits beside her, staring at the shallow rise and fall of her chest. If he is questions for his actions later on, he would have no answer to give. Maybe it is the tenacious way she clings to life even if the probability of her seeing another sunrise is slim. He turns to the entrance when the sudden flash of lightning lights up the dark entryway.

Sasuke turns his attention to the back of his hand when it starts to throb. He lifts up his left hand to find the beginning of bruise marring his pale hand, fingers shaped marks that circles his wrist. His frown deepens when he notices deep gauges in his skin that suspiciously look like nail marks. He turns to glare at her direction, knowing full well the culprit is her but the scowl freezes when the Hyuuga shivers.

With the thought of leaving, he marches to the entrance, stopping to pick up his dried overshirt. He pulls the vines apart and stares at the dark sky, the way thick sheets of pouring water is obstructing his view. Sasuke sighs, this is no weather for travelling and he turns back into the cave.

Again, he can't say what possess him to walk over and throws the shirt on her small form. After placing a stout branch into the small fire, he leans against the wall and closes his eyes. He'll use this time to rest while waiting for the rain to stop. He could use the couple hours of sleep anyway.

**::**

**End of Chapter 2  
**

**::**

**Preview for Chapter 3:**

_She lets the fear washes over her for a couple of heartbeats before she pushes the cloying terror aside and scrambles to her feet, stumbling in the near darkness as she makes her way to him. She fell on one knee, wincing when a particularly sharp pebble cuts open her skin. Ignoring the added jolt of pain she grabs his shoulder._

_"Hey! Wake…"_

_The rest of her words are swallow up by a surprised shriek when she is abruptly shoves to her back, shoulders pin down under his weight. Her eyes widens when the biting feel of steel presses against her jumping pulse. His hand suddenly move from her throat to clamp down on her wrist, keeping her hands away from her body._

_"Wait!" she forces air into her heaving lungs, her eyes on his. Waking him up like that obviously is a big mistake._

**::**

**A/N:** Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts and favourites. Because of the nice feedback, the new chapter is out sooner. Yup, I respond well to reviews ;)

**::**


	3. Dubious Windfall or Was It?

**Blurry Perception**

**::**

_**After a mission gone wrong, Hinata found herself alone, injured and without her memories. When she found someone who knows who she is, she latches onto him. Too bad she doesn't remember he's a wanted missing-nin by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. **_

**::**

**Chapter 3: Dubious Windfall… or was it? **

**::**

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.  
~ C. S. Lewis

**::**

"_Hokage-sama."_

"_Don't call me that, you know I'm not here on my own free will."_

_Hinata didn't offer any kind of response to that treasonous statement so he supported his cocked head on the heel of his wrist and studied the silent female in front of him. His apathetic features didn't change saved for a quirk of his brow._

_She took that as a permission to go on, so she steeled her spine and forged ahead. "I need you to grant me a solo mission."_

"_And why is that?" The man pondered at the wording of her request._

_She presses her lips together, afraid that the emotion bubbling up will somehow erupt and drenched them both with its intensity. The pain of losing her cousin had not fully manifested until now. She had been too busy trying to dodge Death's summon to mourn properly, the frequent adrenaline rush had overshadow the pain of lost. _

_The very second she had an idle moment, everything came crushing back and unlike the ocean's wave, the pain never receded. The continuous crashing of anger and guilt had drained her. Every face she met on the street was a testament that her cousin didn't survive, when she did. He had thrown his own life aside to save hers and for someone who always put other people's interest ahead of her own, she could not deal with it._

_There was a part of her that wanted to ask the Acting Hokage to push her to the start of the line for the Grief Management sessions he had made compulsory for all Fourth War's survivors but since almost all of the shinobi population were affected by the last Great War, the line was a long one. Then there's that tiny voice that whispered incessantly that there must be someone else who needs the session more than her wins the argument. _

_Therefore, some time alone to sort out her tumultuous thoughts seemed imminent._

"_Please Hokage-sama," she implored the man, hands clasped tightly in front of her. Habit made her dipped her head down but when she caught herself doing it, she straightened instantly, locking her eyes with the Acting Sixth's inquisitive stare. With a start, she realized that he looked like he'd aged 5 years in the weeks he had been persuaded to take up office. _

_Post-war Konoha was a mere shadow of its glorious hey-day. The body count from the Fourth War had been staggering, the life and skills that had been wiped out from Konoha especially will take years to replace. And when the time came to find the replacement for the fallen Fifth, all eyes turned to the most obvious choice for their new leader. One of the hero, a half of the duo that sealed the Juubi but none of them could've guessed his response to the offer of Hokage-ship._

_He had declined._

_The same Uzumaki Naruto who had shouted to anyone who wanted to listen (and even those who didn't) from the time he was old enough to run of his desire to take the helm of the village, he had refused when it was offered to him on a silver platter._

_He told the Council there's no way he would be able to shoulder the responsibility of being the Sixth Hokage until he's able to retrieve his teammate back to the village. The one who had fought beside him as they gambled with their lives to put the monster away, the same one who went missing hours after they succeeded. Naruto refused to believe his teammate, his friend, his _brother_ would simply leave and disappear on his own accord without provocation and he would do anything to find him again. He had done it once, he would do it again because before the Uchiha was back in Konoha, there was no way he would accept. If he can't save Sasuke, he had doubt that he could keep an entire village safe. _

_With the blond being adamant on that one clause, the Council scrambled to find ways around it but the Uzumaki was tenaciously stubborn. After a long drawn out negotiation (temper-filled fest with screams and the occasional books thrown against the wall), the Council conceded to fill the spot of Konoha's head with another candidate. After all, the last time Naruto tried to look for Sasuke, it took him almost five years to do so and Konoha cannot be without a leader for the next five years._

_For some reason or another, they pounced on him. Before he could say no and decline politely, they gave a long winding speech about his loyalty to his village and what will Konoha do when the Hokage candidate was off running after a missing-nin who doesn't want to be found. After another long arduous negotiation (that borders on blackmail), they both agree on the terms that he'll be only taking the reign as Acting Hokage and will immediately give it up the minute Uchiha Sasuke returned to Konoha. _

_She didn't know what he could see playing across her face, the Acting Sixth kept studying her and she kept repressing the urge to fidget when the man sighed and turned, ruffling through the mission scrolls piled high on his desk. _

"_You're in luck, Hyuuga. This is what I need you to do." _

**::**

She opens her eyes to find she is surrounded in inky darkness. Panic shoves past common sense and she would have bolts upwards if it wasn't for the pain that shoots from her left side. She gasps and suddenly the black veil lifts. Again, her vision sharpens and widens, bathing her surrounding in an eerie silver glow.

Hinata, she dimly recalls her own name, shuffles to the wall of the cave, having determined her current whereabouts; instinctively putting her unwatched back against a solid wall of rock. Her former obsession resurfaces and she hurriedly scans her immediate vicinity for potential threats. Her fingers twitches for her weapon, anything she can use to hold off intruders and her cold hand pats through the unfamiliar shirt before they tightens on a hilt of a kunai.

She stiffens, her sweaty limbs unmoving when she spots a blob of shining twisted threads resting by the mouth of the cave. Which she somehow aware belongs to a person. The way he is positions, he is directly cutting off her only escape route to safety. An enemy? But why is he not making any move? Is he… sleeping? Does that man she is captured and he is a guard of some sort?

A flash of lightning streaks across the sky and Hinata's erratic breathing pattern skitters when the sudden burst of light overlays the dark haired man's face over the meandering of glowing pathways. All right, not an enemy then. Hinata feels her fear cools down to a simmer but she still continues to scan for threats.

After spending the last few days dodging various attempts on her life with the worse handicap ever, no memory, so that she can't even distinguished foe from friends, she had develop a skyrocketing level of paranoia. He is the only one she comes across that doesn't try to kill her on sight and seems to know more about herself than well, herself.

Hinata gulps when she realizes she could see past their cave, way beyond it actually, as her vision stretches across forests and streams. The scene looks like it has been drawn on sheer transparent paper and she could actually see through each object. Which is totally awesome.

Does that mean she has some kind of super power? Is that the reason she is being hunted down?

The sudden rush of adrenaline makes her heart pump much harder, pushing much needed blood throughout her body and Hinata purposely tries pushing the strange sight even further.

As if being shaken out of stupor, her muscles quickly adapts to the change, pumping chakra instinctively into her eyes and the surrounding races past her. Her fear of the unknown dissipates when she focuses her attention, unconsciously seeking for living human beings as oppose to trees and animals.

She gasps, a quick intake of air, when she sees numerous silhouettes approaching fast from the east. Hinata manage to certify that they are in two groups of four, moving directly into their area before sheer panic takes over and she is back in the darkness.

She lets the fear washes over her for a couple of heartbeats before she pushes the cloying terror aside and scrambles to her feet, stumbling in the near darkness as she makes her way to him. She fell on one knee, wincing when a particularly sharp pebble cuts open her skin. Ignoring the added jolt of pain she grabs his shoulder.

"Hey! Wake…"

The rest of her words are engulf by a surprised shriek when she is abruptly shoves to her back, shoulders pin down under his weight. Her eyes widens when the biting feel of steel presses against her jumping pulse. His hands suddenly move from her throat to clamp down on her wrist, keeping her hands away from her body.

"Wait!" she forces air into her heaving lungs, her eyes on his. Waking him up like that obviously is a big mistake. "We have to go, now. Two groups are coming from… uh… over there."

He continues to study her without a word and the calculating look in his eyes fans the flames of her mounting fear.

"You think I'm lying to you? They may be on their way to kill us, _right now_ and you're considering if you can believe me?"

"Us?"

"Fine, okay. Maybe it's me," her eyes narrows at his tone as she tries wrenching her hands away. His fingers tighten immediately and she winces at the strain it puts on her burning arm. "People are trying to kill me left and right, and I have no idea why. That means we have to… we have to…" The rising confusion on her face grows as she frantically tries to finish her train of thoughts, desperate to find the words to describe it.

"Evacuate? Leave? Move?" He guesses blandly but the nod she gives him is vigorous, much like a puppet that has lost her strings.

"Yes. Now."

"Not my problem. You're on your own, Hyuuga." He climbs to his feet before reaching down to grab the shirt she's holding. Sasuke glares down when she keeps a tight grip on the fabric and Hinata has no idea why she is so reluctant to part with a shirt that is not hers to begin with. The second she loosen her fingers, he pulls it away before shaking the cloth a couple of times.

"No, I'm coming with you."

He gives the shirt another good shake and Hinata frowns in distress, it's like he's already trying to erase any trace of her.

"No, you are not."

"Yes, I am."

He gives her an exasperated look but move to exit their cave, toeing the small fire to disperse it on the way out. Hinata points to the direction of where she last saw their pursuer. "They're coming from that side, we should take the… the other way."

Without another word, he took off into the trees and she immediately follows him. "Whatever you say, you still need me."

"The way I see it, Hyuuga, they're after you. If I ditch you, I'll be fine."

"You're a… a…" Her scrambled brain frantically tries to find the relevant vocabulary to express her feelings but the words seem to be out of her reach. She reluctantly settles on, "…not nice." Her scowl deepens at this sudden inability and she tosses another reply nevertheless. "Maybe they're after _you. _You look like you have an enemy or two."

"Is that a threat? Are you going to run off and let them know you found me?" He asks in a dry emotionless tone as they continue to jump across the tree tops.

"And who you are, again? Just so I get the name right when I decide to run off to them."

He stops immediately and Hinata lands on a nearby branch, trying her best not to feel winded when she notices his assessing look and her shoulders stiffen under the weight of his scrutiny. For some unknown reasons, her fingers twitch in agitation and she feels this need to do something with them.

"Is that a joke?"

"A joke?" her face fells and she blinks in confusion. "That's when you make people laugh. Why are you asking me that now? I didn't think I said anything funny." The confusion deepens and she asks with hesitation, "Did I?"

Sasuke could see the 'You didn't really want me to crack a joke right here, right now, right?' clearly reflects in her pale eyes. Her fingers are twisting the hem of her sleeve in her preoccupation and she is breathing a little too rapidly. He bits the inside of his cheek as he tries to figure out the Hyuuga in front of him. Is trouble communicating and the loss of vocabulary a symptom of amnesia as well? It's really starting to look like she is much worse than he originally thought.

"You really don't know who I am?"

"No, just that you're the only one who knows who I am."

He didn't stop to think when he replies, "Of course I know… "

"How do you know me?" Hinata interrupts him.

"How do you _not _know me?" The dark eyes of his didn't waver but he's eyeing her in preoccupied contemplation like she's the shattered pieces of a puzzle that should fit, but somehow didn't.

"Am I _supposed_ to know you?" Her head tilts to one side, scrutinizing the man in front of her when the feeling of someone (a lot of someones actually) bearing down on them made her add, "I feel more comfortable talking about this _after _we have enough… enough…"

"Distance?" he contributes and stands.

"Yes."

He studies his surroundings, decide on his route and jumps ahead with a curt, "Hn. I'm leaving."

She blinks and then grits her teeth, the now familiar exasperation rearing its head. "Lead the way," she mutters under her breath.

**::**

He didn't exactly lead her to safety. In fact, he did everything in his power to ditch her and disappears into the sunset. Or in their case, sunrise.

Hinata stares at the still dark pre-dawn sky and forces herself to keep up with his demanding speed. She would keep him in her view even if it kills her. Which doesn't seem to be that far in the future if he keeps to this crazy pace. She thought the only reason she is not alone, hiding in the occasional trees like she had done for the past few days is because of the tenacious need that burns within her as she follows him like a stubborn shadow.

The Uchiha could have point out that was partly true, another part is her skill as a tracker that made it somewhat impossible for him to lose her completely. He'd lose her, definitely, if he puts his mind to it but he is still playing with the idea of what he could do with her.

A Hyuuga.

Hyuugas are generally capable of manipulating tenketsu points with the aid of their Byakugan. He didn't know if this Hyuuga is a gift-wrapped present that fell into his lap or bait to his future destruction.

A Hyuuga who conveniently had no memory or recollection of the past of his Avenger days. Someone who is not immediately biased in regards to his sins for his former village is a burst of fresh air for him.

Someone who apparently needs him more than he needs her. Well, it is possible the need is mutual but he's not going to tell her _that_. But he is not about to offer his help on a silver platter. He needs to show her how much she needs him first. The decision to keep her with him and then get her to work on unlocking his Sharingan is not something he decided on lightly.

The Uchiha knows there is a possibility that she'll regain her memory before she's ready to work on him. If that happens, she'd be more willing to _close_ every tenkutsu points he had, bound and gag him before taking him back with her to Konoha.

And yet, if he could settle everything before the missing memory resurfaces… his lips twitches upwards. He'd retain the use of his Sharingan again.

With that thought, he turns and headed towards his hideout, a small place he'd been calling his for close to a year now, all the while cautiously making sure no one will come across their joint tracks. He lands on one tree and turns back, his head cocks to one side as he waits to see if she's still on his tail.

How troublesome it would be that after he decides on taking advantage of the Hyuuga that she lost his trail and is lost somewhere in the jungle. However, before long, he catches sight of her.

The Hyuuga's features are pallid, the ripped blood-stained clothes are soaked with perspiration and when she lands on a tree next to his, she sags against the trunk, breathing hard.

A quick flash of guilt crosses over him but he pushes it aside. If she didn't die when she was stabbed and poisoned earlier, a little sprint across the jungle shouldn't do much harm. He turns away from her, who is still struggling with the use of her lungs and jumps down, walking briskly into his home. He could feel her hesitation for maybe a fraction of a second before she is behind him, catching the door before it closes and slips inside.

She is just about to sit, seconds away from stretching out the cramp in her legs and give the spasm in her lungs a break when he speaks and the cold tone sends shivers clawing up her spine.

"Tell me everything."

Hinata refuses to be intimidated by the likes of him, after all they were supposed to be acquainted in the past. "I woke up to find I'm injured. Hard to find the way back home when I didn't even know where home is. Wander around for a couple of days. Passed out half of that time. The other half, I spent avoiding people with weapons who seems to be after me. Found you, who were fighting some other people. Hit by something, passed out again, wake up in a cave and now here we are."

The way he is studying her, like he didn't really think that was it makes her fingers fidget in agitation.

"Before that?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know what?"

"Anything... everything!" Hinata straightens her spine, shoves her hands into her ripped pockets and stares defiantly up at him. "I don't even know my name before you told me."

Sasuke recalls the way she was hanging onto his arm, even when she was already passed out. "You don't remember anything?" The question comes out more as a statement though, the one he knows she is going to agree to.

"No." Her pale eyes are troubled as they probe his for reassurance. "What do you think I should do?"

The Uchiha feels heat crawling upwards from the back of his neck; he had never had women looking at him other than lust, admiration or fear. Someone who is waiting for his answer, his thoughts on what she should do, something that didn't include war strategies and in-depth plan for revenge; he didn't know how to handle that so he reverts back to something his eleven year old self would say. "How the hell should I know?" he turns away, muttering under his breath about annoying girls that treats him like information counters.

"Didn't we know each other before? So, you must've known where I come from, right? My family?"

Sasuke stiffens. To say yes would mean to hash out stuff he'd rather forget. Damn, now he wishes he is the one with the memory loss. "No."

"No?" She frowns as she follows his jerky movement across their current hideout. "But you know who I am, you said so."

"I know _of _you and I never said that." He crosses his arms around his torso, one brow almost disappears under his bangs as he stares at her, daring her to say otherwise.

Hinata blinks in agitation, "But... no! I remember that..."

"Ah... now you remember everything?" The dark eyebrow climbs higher.

"That's not... what I mean is... you said... No!"

The Hyuuga glares and he feels the confusion swirling inside of him calms down a notch at the sight of her scowl. Yeah, that's it. This he could handle. Make her angry instead of dependent on him. He didn't even bother with a reply and walks past her to a door at the end of the room and the door clicks close with a resounding echo behind him.

Hinata stares at the closed door with something that surpasses terror. Is he leaving again?

Her eyes widen as the fear rushes through her, the freezing cold that claws over her limbs. Her fingers fist around the damp fabric of her pants, her pulse shooting to triple digits and the terror constricts her chest.

He left... He left... He _left!_

She's alone... again. No… NO!

Her first few steps are a series of stumbles before her clammy hand grips the doorknob. Hinata pushes the door apart and rushes forward, forcing her shaky legs onwards, almost falling in her haste. "Wait! Don't..."

The frantic words trails off into shocked silence, pale eyes wide as they stares at the expanse of bare chest displays in front of her. He freezes as well, arms in an awkward angle before he quickly fumbles with his shirt, pulling it back on. "Dammit, Hyuuga. What the hell?"

"I... I..." She blinks the glassiness out of her eyes and straightens to face his wrath. "You're leaving! I thought you're leaving... me."

Sasuke will the flush to leave his face and glares down at her. "This day has been a long, painful one and I just want to sleep it off. You can leave, which I highly prefer by the way. There's the door if you didn't notice it earlier." He stomps around the sparse room to stop in front of the window, pushing it apart before leaning down to wash his face from a bowl beside it.

Hinata feels her heartbeat slows down when she realizes that this door doesn't lead outside but rather to a bedroom. Her chaotic brain churns with possibilities. There is a bedding spread out on the empty floor and single room means single bed. If she is to stay (is there even any other option?) she has to bunk out outside. Alone.

She shivers and takes the only option she can see. From the corner of her eyes, she keeps his back in her peripheral vision, quickly walking into the room. Without hesitation, she reaches down and stretches her limbs across the makeshift bed.

When he realizes her intention, Hinata makes sure a copy of his scowl is on her face as she frowns up at him.

"You're leaving. Right now."

Hinata ignores the biting order and turns away from him, scrunching her eyes tight. Her cold fingers start shaking so she closes them into tight fists. No, she will not be left alone again. Not if she can do anything about it. He will have to toss her stiff cold _dead _body out himself.

Sasuke stares at the scene in front of him. The Uchiha wonders about his sanity and himself in general when the first thought that crosses his mind is that she is going to bleed all over his clean, spotless sheets. The idea that he is going to sleep with the smell of blood is enough for him to lean over and toss her bodily out of his room. One hand already stretches out towards her stiff back when he notices her small tremors shaking through her. His fingers move to his weapon without thought before he realizes that she is not on the brink of an attack, instead she is shaking. He is not sure whether it is in anger or she is truly afraid of him.

The latter makes him pause and his fingers let go of his sharp blade, a first for him.

It takes him maybe ten seconds to get use to the idea of a roommate. Unwanted, yes. Avoidable, no.

Sasuke walks around her and sits on the far end of the room, his back against the cool wooden wall. He pulls up one leg to his chest before resting the crook of his elbow on his knee. He wonders briefly about this sudden clinginess from the Hyuuga and idly calculates the possibility of that on the overall plan of unlocking his Sharingan. He had just starting to list out his pro columns (she'll do whatever he tells her is on top. Obviously) when his brain abruptly shuts down and he falls into an uneasy sleep.

**::**

**End of Chapter 3.  
**

**::**

**_Preview for Chapter 4_**

_"Later. How's your hand?" Sasuke notices that during their little altercation earlier, the Hyuuga didn't use her left hand, the one that had been injured from the Iwa-nin's weapon. He can't have a Byakugan user who lost the use of one hand._

_"My hand?" Hinata turns her attention to the other limb, as if just realizing that it was encased in bandages._

_Sasuke quickly close the gap between them and pulls the wounded arm to him. Her distressed yelp goes unnoticed as he unravels the cloth before studying the skin underneath the bandage. He pushes at the cut and she hisses at the intrusion._

_"It's healing." His fingers are still busy prodding on the sore area. "You don't even need stitches."_

_"Stich… stitches?" The flush that is hovering over her cheeks recedes until there is no colour left._

_Sasuke grunts something in response, still peering at the cut. Inwardly, he's grumbling at the Hyuuga's overflowing luck and wonders if this was the reason that the Hyuuga feels the need to dance in and out of Death's grip. Repeatedly at that too. Some people are just born lucky._

_Hinata tries very hard not to pull her arm away from his grip. He is studying her wound as if it is the most interesting thing in the world, his dark head so close to her arm she could feel the wash of his warm breath on her skin. "You… Did you… do this?" She forces the question out and he blinks at her, straightening his lanky form. His dark eyes are fixed on hers._

**::**

Thank you so much for the interest in this story! All of you are just awesome :D

I was planning on updating on Sunday (because you guys are just fantastic and I don't want to keep you waiting for too long) but then I had to babysit my nephew for the whole week. It is a little hard to work on this with a baby crawling around and over you, and using your notebook as his chewing toy. I love him to bits but I still have the drool marks on my monitor ^o^

Anyway, here's a longer chapter for all of you. Hope you like it! Don't forget to tell me what you think :)

**::**


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